


Decorations And Silent Declarations

by aconitum (sugarandspace)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Developing Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:34:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28343988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarandspace/pseuds/aconitum
Summary: Derek is fully prepared to spend Christmas alone like he's done ever since Laura died a few years ago. When his boyfriend knocks on his door with his arms full of things to carry, Derek's Christmas takes a sudden turn for the better.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 12
Kudos: 135





	Decorations And Silent Declarations

**Author's Note:**

> Happy (late) Christmas to those who celebrate! I hope you had a good one! I was originally going to post this a couple of days ago but I didn't have the chance to finish it until today.

Derek is just about to put his book down on the coffee table so he can go and heat up the frozen pizza he has in the freezer when he hears a knock on the loft door. It makes him tense because he’s definitely not expecting anyone to knock on his door on Christmas day.

Isaac is at Scott’s, more or less adopted by Melissa at this point, Cora is in South America, and Stiles is spending the day with his father. He’d tried to get Derek to join them but Derek hadn’t wanted to intrude. The thing between him and Stiles is still fairly new, and he’s pretty sure the Sheriff is still getting used to the idea of his son dating a werewolf, especially one with a reputation like Derek’s. 

Derek places the book on the table and gets up, his bare feet silent on the floor as he walks towards the door, not knowing if the person behind the heavy doors is a friend or an enemy.

“C’mon Derek open the door,” comes the familiar voice behind the door. “My arms are getting tired.”

Derek opens the door to find Stiles standing on the other side of it.

“Stiles?” he asks, surprised to see his boyfriend and even more surprised to see him carrying two plastic bags, a cardboard box protruding out of one of them.

“Merry Christmas,” Stiles says as he pushes past Derek and walks over to the couch. He sets the bags down on the floor next to him before he sits down. 

Derek closes the door and joins him, and is greeted by a kiss as he sits down. 

“What are you doing here?” Derek asks.

“Dad got called to the station,” Stiles explains. “He’ll likely be there the whole night, so I decided to come visit you. No one should be alone on Christmas.”

Derek could lie and say that he doesn’t mind being alone. It would only be a small lie. He’s spent a lot of Christmases like this, alone and not acknowledging it in any way. Over the years it has become normal, and some of the magic from around the holiday has gone away, leaving it feeling mostly like any other day. But at the same time, Derek wouldn’t be able to forget how Christmas used to be. Growing up with a big family, the day used to be full of laughter and joy and _life._ Even when it was just Laura and him, they hadn’t bothered to celebrate, knowing that it would just remind them of everything and everyone that was missing. After Laura died and he was all alone, there was even less of a reason to celebrate.

Having Stiles here sparks a familiar warmth in him that he’d thought he’d never get to feel during the holiday.

“What do you have there?” Derek asks and nods towards the bags Stiles brought with him. He needs to change the topic before he says something incredibly mushy that Stiles will make fun of.

“Oh!” Stiles says excitedly, like he suddenly remembers the bags. He pulls the cardboard box out of one of them and sets it on the table. The box is red and it has a picture of a plastic Christmas tree on the side.

“You brought a Christmas tree?” Derek asks.

“Yes!” Stiles says, then continues as if it’s an undeniable fact, “You need a tree.”

Derek watches as Stiles pulls the tree from the box and starts to straighten the plastic branches. The tree is small, about as high as Derek’s forearm is long, and it’s void of any decorations, save from the lights in the branches. 

When the branches have been straightened out to something that looks more like a tree, Stiles pulls a smaller box from the bag. The box has pictures of cartoon reindeer in it and it has obviously seen better days, but when Stiles places it on the couch between them and lifts the lid Derek can see an array of colorful decorations, all small enough to fit into the small tree.

“When I was little,” Stiles starts as he hangs the first decoration, a little golden bell that makes a clear sound as Stiles moves it, “My mom and I used to decorate this tree at the beginning of December.”

Derek listens carefully. Stiles doesn’t talk about his mother often and he wants to give him his full attention now when Stiles has brought her up voluntarily.

“Mom loved Christmas,” Stiles says and he hangs more decorations. “She would have wanted to put the tree up right after Thanksgiving, but dad thought it was too soon. This small tree was their compromise. We would decorate it at the beginning of December and then we’d get the real tree closer to Christmas.”

“That sounds fair,” Derek says. He doesn’t really know what to say but he knows he needs to say something. He’s also a little speechless that Stiles trusts Derek enough to bring the tree to the loft.

“Yeah,” Stiles says, and then moves on from the topic by handing a decoration to Derek. “You should help me.”

Derek holds the small bauble in his hand like it’s the most prized possession he’s ever held. In part because of what it means to Stiles but also because he can't remember the last time he held one. The last time he decorated a Christmas tree.

Stiles can be loud and he doesn’t always think things through before he speaks, but to his credit, he knows how to read Derek and he can be sensitive when need to. That’s why when Derek doesn’t make a move to hang the decoration to the tree, Stiles places his hand on top of Derek’s and says, his tone soft, “You don’t have to.”

Derek looks up from their hands to Stiles’ concerned face and smiles lightly before he frees his hand from underneath Stiles’ and puts the decoration on the tree.

Stiles leans over to kiss him on the cheek before he offers the box to Derek and Derek picks the next one. The box is empty before they know it, and Stiles takes the dark green cord that comes from the tree and plugs it into an outlet near the couch, and the lights light up in a warm glow.

“It’s beautiful,” Derek says honestly. It’s a little wonky and the color scheme of the decorations is in no way matching, but it’s the first Christmas tree he’s had in years and it’s colorful and bright and- “It’s perfect.”

“It really is,” Stiles says as he leans against Derek’s side. They look at the tree for a moment before Stiles grows restless. He pats his hand against Derek’s stomach and sits up.

“I brought something else as well,” he says and digs into the backpack. He pulls out a plastic container and his laptop. “Get a fork from the kitchen.”

Derek does as he’s told and goes to the kitchen. When he returns he sees that Stiles has pulled up Netflix on his laptop and the container is open, revealing a large amount of Christmas food. Derek puts the fork into the container and offers it to Stiles, who pushes the warm container back toward Derek.

“I already ate with my dad,” Stiles says. “It’s for you.”

Derek takes the container with a quiet, “Thank you.”

A container of leftovers and a small old plastic tree might not seem like much to some, but the gestures have almost left Derek speechless. Stiles really did all this to make sure Derek didn't need to spend Christmas on his own. 

“Do you like the food?” Stiles asks as he sets the laptop on the table in front of them and gets comfortable against Derek’s side, stealing a piece of ham from the container before focusing on the opening credits of whatever movie he had chosen.

“I love it,” Derek says. The ‘I love you’ is left unsaid but Derek thinks it might be too soon for that. Derek hopes he can get the message across with his actions, and so when he’s finished with the food, he puts the container on the table in front of them and wraps his arm around Stiles to make sure he’s as close as possible. It’s a different Christmas than he’s used to, but it’s a good one once again, since after several years he’s finally able to celebrate it with someone he loves. 

And while Derek is hesitant to read into things too much, he knows that Stiles' actions tonight speak of strong feelings as well.

He whispers another thank you against the side of Stiles' head, and he knows his boyfriend heard him when Stiles turns around to kiss him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! 💙


End file.
